68 Deer Breeding for Fine Heads 



it is too high to jump, and does not give way when leant 

 against, they eventually give up trying to get through. 



If the fence is in a deer-forest, about seven feet is high 

 enough, but if in a paddock it is better with some two or three 

 additional feet of wire, leaning inwards, on the top. 



I have known a two-year-old wapiti stag jump a seven-foot 

 fence repeatedly ; and I have also seen a hunted red deer hind 

 at the end of a long run climb an almost vertical bank, and 

 then, without having any flat foothold at the top, jump a five- 

 foot stone wall. This jump was quite impossible to the hounds. 



A deep, wide ditch, especially if full of water, in places 

 enables one to have a much lower fence, since, if a stag is out 

 of his depth in water he cannot rise to a jump, even if the fence 

 is very low ; and if the water is wide enough, and he cannot get 

 a good run downhill at it, he cannot get over much of a fence 

 on the landing side. A deer is a better high-jumper than a wide- 

 jumper from a standing take-off. 



Except in countries where timber is cheap, wooden fences are 

 very expensive to keep in repair ; but, if properly made, they are 

 really more deer-proof than a wire-strand fence, in which the 

 deer especially the hinds and calves are apt to get between 

 the wires. A wooden fence may, however, be destroyed by fire. 



If it is desired that deer should enter an enclosure and not get 

 out again, a drop-jump into the enclosure may be arranged at 

 various points, where stags can be enticed in during the rutting- 

 season by hinds having been previously driven in. 



In a park where it is customary to catch deer at various times, 

 enclosures with V-shaped leads to them may be constructed, 



